Don't forget the famous story of how Antiochus boasted to Hannibal how his splendid army would stop the Romans. Hannibal is said to have replied to the effect that it certainly would; it would take the Romans ages to loot the corpses...

PS: In addition to drawing pins/thumb tacks for shields, one can also use upholstery pins; these are deeper and more concave,as in some illustrations of phalangite shields.

Yes, I used drawing pins, bought some brass ones on ebay and seen these silver ones in wilkos... saved loads of time not having to paint the front. I am sure I was inspired by Cameronian's only a wargame blog that featured Caesar miniatures late republican Romans as chainmail clad pikemen with a drawing pin shield or something similar : http://pregunpowder.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/Classical%20Seleucids